Basic questions about QD-OLED SDR calibration, limitations of monitor settings

[CMD1]

I recently purchased a MSI MAG 271QPX E2 QD-OLED 2k monitor.

This is my first HDR monitor, and I’m working only on calibrating for SDR.  I’ve previously used DisplayCal to calibrate ICC profiles for several IPS and TN LED monitors without issue.  I have a i1Display Pro Plus.

I’m hoping for suggestions on getting the best SDR calibration for ICC creation.

The factory-provided calibration report claims excellent color accuracy, but my HCFR measurements refute those claims.  A Youtube review confirms this.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrdllziZe5w

If I put the monitor into User/Pro mode, it opens up wide gamut.  I can adjust brightness + individual R G B channels.  If I use my usual SDR calibrating settings (6500K, gamma 2.2, 120 nits) and properly adjust RGB for white point, I can get a great greyscale calibration, but color accuracy is way off.  Cyan, Green, Yellow, and Red dEs are quite bad.  Only white and blue are okay.  I’m guessing this is because the wide gamut, under this mode, exceeds Rec 709.

If I put the monitor into sRGB setting, this turns off the R G B adjustments, so I can’t adjust the whitepoint before calibration.  However, I can now get outstanding grey calibration + very good color accuracy.  Except for red, with a dE of 3.6.

Is this because I can’t adjust RGB to a proper whitepoint prior to the calibration running?

One seemingly simple premise I don’t quite grasp is, why does setting white point through monitor adjustments prior to calibration matter at all, if the calibration is capable of modifying how the monitor outputs colors?

Also, is there consensus on the DisplayCal correction to select for QD-OLED?  I have it set to Spectral: RGB OLED.  There’re also WOLED options, but this is not a WOLED.  I found some matrix corrections online for a similar MSI monitor, but have not experimented significantly with that.

Other settings on this monitor include a MOVIE mode and OFFICE mode.  These modes, like User/Pro, turn on RGB temperature adjustments.  However, it looks like wide gamut is also on for the OFFICE mode (see uploaded HCFR color readout).  I haven’t tested the MOVIE mode yet.

• This topic was modified 5 months ago by CMD1.

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[DaniJ]

Your operating system is only applying the greyscale correction and HCFR’s pattern generator is not doing anything about the gamut either so you end up measuring an intermediate state (greyscale perfect, but colors oversaturated).

If you keep the wide gamut, you’ll have to either use one of the software that applies the full calibration on the whole desktop, or limit it to color managed apps (photo apps, browsers, …).

Fixing the white point using the monitor controls should produce better results (less banding).

[Vincent]

I recently purchased a MSI MAG 271QPX E2 QD-OLED 2k monitor.

This is my first HDR monitor, and I’m working only on calibrating for SDR.  I’ve previously used DisplayCal to calibrate ICC profiles for several IPS and TN LED monitors without issue.  I have a i1Display Pro Plus.

I’m hoping for suggestions on getting the best SDR calibration for ICC creation.

First of all make sure that HDR is off and Windows 11 auto color management is not active. Then find a suitable CCSS colorimeter correction for QD-OLEDs.

The factory-provided calibration report claims excellent color accuracy, but my HCFR measurements refute those claims.  A Youtube review confirms this.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrdllziZe5w

If I put the monitor into User/Pro mode, it opens up wide gamut.  I can adjust brightness + individual R G B channels.  If I use my usual SDR calibrating settings (6500K, gamma 2.2, 120 nits) and properly adjust RGB for white point, I can get a great greyscale calibration, but color accuracy is way off.  Cyan, Green, Yellow, and Red dEs are quite bad.  Only white and blue are okay.  I’m guessing this is because the wide gamut, under this mode, exceeds Rec 709.

Usually you validate agiants display driver/EDID ICC profile in displayCAL to check out of the box factory calibration.

If you wish to do this with HCFR, set in Preferences/References/Standards=Custom the xy coordinates of WRGB + nominal gamma. Those values come from driver/EDID ICC profile.

Also since you did not attach a 2D plot of measured vs reference, we cannot know if it is woking as you said, but it’s likely to te that way: native gamut vs Rec709.

If I put the monitor into sRGB setting, this turns off the R G B adjustments, so I can’t adjust the whitepoint before calibration.  However, I can now get outstanding grey calibration + very good color accuracy.  Except for red, with a dE of 3.6.

Is this because I can’t adjust RGB to a proper whitepoint prior to the calibration running?

If error is in (255, 0, 0) red… no, it is because its sRGB calibration seems a lilltle faulty, unrelated to whitepoint error.

One seemingly simple premise I don’t quite grasp is, why does setting white point through monitor adjustments prior to calibration matter at all, if the calibration is capable of modifying how the monitor outputs colors?

“Calibration” in the way DisplayCAL or Xrite i1Profiler or Calibrite Profiler can calibrate displays ONLY modifies whitepoint and greyscale, nothing more.
Then they measure calibrated displsy and make an icc profile which stores those results, so color managed applications can transform images in some colorspace to display colorspace.

This implies that “post calibration” results in RTINGs web are false or misleading. They do not calibrate to sRGB at all. They measure (=profile) even without any grey scale calibration the tested display, then run a color managed verification where instead of sRGB red 255 they feed to display some other RGB number combination that its profile predicts that is closer to sRGB red…. but once you close calman that calibration is lost.

Some OSD modes comes with a CMS 6-axis controls where you can try to simulate smaller than native gamut, but ypu’ll have to do it manually with WRGBCMY 255 patches in HCFR/Calman. This may be useful for TVs, but it’s uncommon to use it for a computer display => natiev gamut + icc for color managed apps.

Also, is there consensus on the DisplayCal correction to select for QD-OLED?  I have it set to Spectral: RGB OLED.  There’re also WOLED options, but this is not a WOLED.  I found some matrix corrections online for a similar MSI monitor, but have not experimented significantly with that.

So not use other people’s CCMX. Find a CCSS suitable for QDOLEDs, even with another manufacturer wity closer native primaries… of if you did not find one, yes, RGB OLED, but that whay you can expect some error because of lacking an accurate colorimeter correction in whitepoint and minor errors on RGB primaries.

Other settings on this monitor include a MOVIE mode and OFFICE mode.  These modes, like User/Pro, turn on RGB temperature adjustments.  However, it looks like wide gamut is also on for the OFFICE mode (see uploaded HCFR color readout).  I haven’t tested the MOVIE mode yet.

IDNK the OSD modes of that display. For color managed apps the ony that matters is “user/pro” preset t native gamut.

• This reply was modified 4 months, 4 weeks ago by Vincent.
• This reply was modified 4 months, 4 weeks ago by Vincent.
• This reply was modified 4 months, 4 weeks ago by Vincent.

[Vincent]

“So not use other people’s CCMX”
I meant
“Do not use other people’s CCMX”
I cannot correct the typo.

[Author]

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